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By Lance Carden
- "Mr. Speaker, you have been demmed."
This is how Geoff Plant warned his colleagues in the British Columbia legislature last April about electronic "data mining." He argued that privacy, autonomy, and anonymity are being seriously compromised by global marketers who sort through ever-expanding spheres of seemingly harmless data to cluster people into various demographics - hence the word "demmed."
Not having an archive to a data-mine, I have no way of knowing whether Mr. Plant subscribes to the Utne Reader, or if he had seen a headline in its March/April 2000 issue: "The Beautiful and the Demmed, You are what you buy - wherever you live." But I do know it is in just such fashion that words eventually enter the accepted vocabulary.
First, someone uses the language creatively, even daringly, in an effort to communicate and possibly to entertain - then others, sensing a powerful and/or playful formulation, repeat it and keep it alive.
"Demmed" brings to the sometimes dry and dreary realm of demographics a certain zip and passion - not least because the sound is so easily associated with the words "hemmed" (as in "hemmed in"), "condemned," and most obviously, "damned." In fact, in this euphemistic sense, "demmed" is nothing new. It will be familiar to readers of the "Life and Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel," by John Blakeney, who used it liberally in the novel. "That demmed clever woman" and "That demmed elusive Pimpernel" are two chapter headings.
Little did Blakeney know that we would all be demmed.
(http: //csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/ durableRedirect.pl?/ durable/ 2001/02/06/ p16s2.htm)
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Short for "Them", often used in txting and rap music
"we betta warn dem"
"we better warn them"
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slang for 'them', while 'them' actually is used as synonym for 'those'.
check dem chicks
check them chicks
check those chicks
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Dems represents a language tic, a bit like "ayo". It can represent several emotions; disgust, fear, surprise or even joy. It can be used in all contexts: family, friends, teachers ... It can also be derived by a Dams or even for the most naughty, a Doums.
Yo, i got a 98 on the math exam, dems.
Your car is so expensive, dems !!!
-You are very kind and gentle
-Dems, thank you. You are very kind to.
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A alternate term for "damn" that is used by many teenage boys on chats. The word eventually moved into the spoken vocabulary of such boys.
Similar to the word "shee," which is an alternate form of "shit."
Brosef911: Yo how long does the phys hw take
ImAwesome69: bro like 6 hours
Brosef911: dems
ImAwesome69: shee, inorite
Bob: dude look at that girls ass
Joe: dems thats some fine booty
Bob: shee, inorite
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This is how black people say "them".
"Let dem ho's fight."
"Fa sho."
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